No Real News on Resolution – No Return Date for School Yet.

As you know the teachers and the government have not come to an agreement. The teachers have voted to return to work immediately if the government will agree to go to binding arbitration, providing the language relating to what is currently before the courts (class size and competition) is excluded. The government has not agreed to this.

The government and the teachers’ union is currently talking with the mediator, Vince Ready. This is hopeful. If the government and the union representatives  agree to mediation and come to some agreement, the teachers will again vote on what is determined at those meetings.  This will be a slower process but democracy can be slow. As Winston Churchill said: “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried”

Democracy is something that I truly value so I give you two more quotes from Franklin D. Roosevelt:

“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy is education.”

Terry Fox Run

Usually at this time we are preparing for the Terry Fox Run. Terry Fox was a Canadian Hero who ran across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He did the run even though he one lef amputated and must have suffered great pain. He need great courage and determination to overcome adversity and achieve his goal. He was selfless in that he put raising money to help others before his own comfort.  These are qualifities which we encourage in our students.  It is a shame that they will miss this annual event at our school. Please consider taking your children to participate in one of the local Terry Fox Runs, You can also contribute on-line. Here is a link to information about the Terry Fox Run:

http://www.terryfox.org/Run/

The event usually includes lots of fun activities for students and is a healthy and positive message.

Heads Up for Parents regarding Internet Dangers for Students
In the past few weeks, Cybertip.ca has seen a rise in reports from youth involving sextortion. These cases have involved offenders (posing as teenagers) secretly recording teenagers exposing themselves online and then threatening to share the sexual content if they don’t pay money (often hundreds of dollars) to the individual.

In response to this emerging issue of concern, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has issued a Cybertip.ca Alert for parents as well as a tip sheet on how parents can talk to youth about online extortion:

· Alert: https://protectchildren.ca/app/en/media_release_201409_sextortionists_teens

· Tip Sheet for Parents: https://protectchildren.ca/pdfs/C3P_SafetySheet_OnlineExtortion_en.pdf

We also encourage all parents to sign-up for Cybertip.ca Alerts to receive information on concerning technology trends as they emerge. Click here to sign-up: https://www.cybertip.ca/app/en/signup.

FIRST DAY BACK?

Please continue to check the blog for specifics related to our first day back. It will probably be a short day until 10:00 am as is usual. This allows us to finalize class lists etc. Students return to last year’s classroom. New students have different posted areas to go to. Kindergarten students start their gradual entry program on the second day.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone soon I hope. In the meantime enjoy the sunshine.